Gordon Presbyterian Church - St. Elmo, Ontario, Canada
Posted by: 
Loonwatcher
N 45° 18.689 W 074° 52.459
18T E 509851 N 5017560
A stone church with a commanding position on a hilltop, just north of Maxville, home of the Glengarry Highland Games.
Waymark Code: WMHJ6V
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 07/15/2013
Views: 5
You guessed it! This Presbyterian Church is smack in the middle of Highland country, rich with its Scottish and Gaelic influence and heritage.
The church is named after its first minister, the Reverend Daniel Gordon, the Free Church minister from 1853 until 1871. The congregation of Gordon Presbyterian Church in St. Elmo, Ontario traces its origins to c.1826 when the Presbyterian settlers in the area then known as the Indian Lands community began construction of a frame church in the 17th Concession. The first minister to conduct services in the church was the Rev. Archibald Connel, the minister in Martintown. In 1838, the Rev. Daniel Clark of Inverness, Scotland, arrived and served as missionary to the area for a year, before accepting a call as minister. In 1844, Rev. Clark and many of the families in the Indian Lands community broke away from the Presbyterian Church of Canada in Connection with the Church of Scotland and joined the Free Presbyterian Church. Disputes over ownership of the church and manse between the two groups continued until 1860 when it was given to the group in connection with the Church of Scotland. As a result the "Free Church" Presbyterians along with the minister, Rev. Daniel Gordon (who replaced Rev. Clark in 1853), began construction of a new church on the19th Concession. This was opened in 1864. The name of this community at the 19th Concession became known as St. Elmo in the early 1880s, and the church became known as the "Gordon Church". At the time of Church Union in 1925, the congregation of the Gordon Church, St. Elmo, voted to remain with The Presbyterian Church in Canada.
You can see this church from afar. It has a central front tower and wooden steeple. Ten Gothic windows, flanked by lancet windows on the tower, are set within fine brick arches. The church is inactive, but still used for special services.
Three Ontario Historical Plaques are within 100 meters of the church.
There is a cemetary in the adjoining property, proper with many headstones belonging tonthe Campbell and Gordon clans.
The popular novelist Ralph Connor was Rev. Gordon's son, and his memories of St. Elmo inspired his novels of Glengarry.
Presbyterian Denomination: Other (Specify)
Status: Inactive/Vacant/Ruin
Address:
9616 Highland Rod
Maxville, Ontario Canada
Date Built: 1864
Architect: Not listed
Relevant Web Site: Not listed
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